1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to projectile imprinting, in particular for terminally guided projectiles or ammunition in the medium caliber range.
2. Description of the Background Art
Guidance in the terminal phase for ammunition fired from a barrel of a weapon is subject to limitations due to various loads during firing. Sensor and guidance elements must have a robust design. In addition, the volume in medium caliber ammunition for installation is limited. Seeker heads with their inertial sensors, in particular, cannot always be housed, especially in medium caliber ammunition, as a payload must also be carried. Therefore space-saving technologies are used, for which semi-active methods have been developed, such as beam rider guidance. In this method, four coded lasers project a pattern to the prescribed trajectory. Based on the areas the tail sensor of the projectile sees, the projectile can determine its individual miss distance from its laser beam.
DE 35 01 955 C2 discloses a target selection method for terminally guided ammunition or guided missiles, respectively. In order to get effective use from such ammunition, it is suggested that the radiation reflected from the presently tracked target be analyzed in a signal receiver in each seeker head to identify whether the signal sent from another seeker head is contained in the analyzed signal or not. If this is the case, the guided missile will seek a new target.
A terminally guided droppable unit for attacking targets emitting acoustic signals is furthermore known from DE 32 28 461 C2. When recognizing a corresponding acoustic source, such as the sound of a battle tank, which emits a sound different from regular wheeled vehicles, transverse forces on the droppable unit are generated via a passive acoustic sensor depending on the sensor signals.
A weapon system for guided pin-point attack of multiple targets is shown in DE 28 29 934 A1. The projectile better positioned for a particular target is selected through computer analysis, turned to firing position and fired at the target with a defined lateral lead.
A sensor arrangement in a seeker head is described in DE 33 42 958 C2, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,421. The sensor is articulated via coupling rods to a biaxial outer gimbal system offset axially behind it for movement of the sensor relative to the seeker head. The sensor as well as the outer gimbal system are each held in a spherical surface pairing.
DE 198 45 611 A1 describes a projectile as well as a method for correcting the trajectory. Here a magnetic field sensor is used to recognize the roll attitude of the correcting unit.
Methods for determining the roll attitude of a rolling flying object can be found in EP 0 745 828 B1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,986 as well as in EP 0 742 420 B1, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,106, which are all incorporated herein by reference.